Do the Merkels and Junckers of the world give a rat’s ass about the problems they cause?
Did Bush or Cheney give a rat’s ass about the mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq?
Does Obama care about all the innocent victims of the US’s unconstitutional drone policy?
The answer to those questions is easy. But why? The short answer is neither the global elite nor their families are ever in a position to be damaged by their own actions.
As a result, those in power see people at the bottom as aliens whose bizarre emotions they must try to manage.
Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan discusses this setup in her column How Global Elites Forsake Their Countrymen.
Recently I spoke with an acquaintance of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and the conversation quickly turned, as conversations about Ms. Merkel now always do, to her decisions on immigration.
The acquaintance said, he believed the chancellor was operating in pursuit of ideals. Moreover she is attempting to provide a kind of counter-statement, in the 21st century, to Germany’s great sin of the 20th. The historical stain of Nazism, the murder and abuse of the minority, will be followed by the moral triumph of open arms toward the dispossessed. That’s what’s driving it, said the acquaintance.
It was as good an explanation as I’d heard. But there was a fundamental problem with the decision that you can see rippling now throughout the West. Ms. Merkel had put the entire burden of a huge cultural change not on herself and those like her but on regular people who live closer to the edge, who do not have the resources to meet the burden, who have no particular protection or money or connections. Ms. Merkel, her cabinet and government, the media and cultural apparatus that lauded her decision were not in the least affected by it and likely never would be.
Nothing in their lives will get worse. The challenge of integrating different cultures, negotiating daily tensions, dealing with crime and extremism and fearfulness on the street—that was put on those with comparatively little, whom I’ve called the unprotected.
The powerful show no particular sign of worrying about any of this. When the working and middle class pushed back in shocked indignation, the people on top called them “xenophobic,” “narrow-minded,” “racist.” The detached, who made the decisions and bore none of the costs, got to be called “humanist,” “compassionate,” and “hero of human rights.”
In Manhattan, my little island off the continent, I see the children of the global business elite marry each other and settle in London or New York or Mumbai. They send their children to the same schools and are alert to all class markers. And those elites, of Mumbai and Manhattan, do not often identify with, or see a connection to or an obligation toward, the rough, struggling people who live at the bottom in their countries. In fact, they fear them, and often devise ways, when home, of not having their wealth and worldly success fully noticed.
I close with a story that I haven’t seen in the mainstream press. This week the Daily Caller’s Peter Hasson reported that recent Syrian refugees being resettled in Virginia, were sent to the state’s poorest communities. Data from the State Department showed that almost all Virginia’s refugees since October “have been placed in towns with lower incomes and higher poverty rates, hours away from the wealthy suburbs outside of Washington, D.C.” Of 121 refugees, 112 were placed in communities at least 100 miles from the nation’s capital. The suburban counties of Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington—among the wealthiest in the nation, and home to high concentrations of those who create, and populate, government and the media—have received only nine refugees.
Some of the detachment isn’t unconscious. Some of it is sheer and clever self-protection. At least on some level they can take care of their own.
Arrogantly Ass Backwards
One of the most disgusting and arrogant articles I have seen in a long time was written by James Traub, a contributing editor at Foreign Policy.
This ignorant (to use his own word) fool (my word but not nearly strong enough) says It’s Time for the Elites to Rise Up Against the Ignorant Masses.
“The Brexit has laid bare the political schism of our time. It’s not about the left vs. the right; it’s about the sane vs. the mindlessly angry,” says Traub.
Who the hell is Traub to decide what is right for the masses?
The masses were against the Iraq war (and correctly so). We had war anyway, with devastating consequences.
The masses never would have fought a war with Vietnam. We had a war, and we lost it. How many US citizens are dead, physically disabled, or mentally disabled because the elite so much believed in the asinine “Domino Theory” that they were willing to go into a stupid war on that belief?
Traub is upset that the masses have finally figured out the global elite don’t give a rat’s ass about them.
Mindlessly Angry?
People are not “mindlessly angry”. They are angry because they have been ripped off by the Fed, by their governments, and by ignorant media jackasses who are clueless about why there is so much anger.
If you care to express an opinion you can reach James Traub @jamestraub1 or Peggy Noonan@Peggynoonannyc.
You can also retweet this if you think this post is spot on.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Just recall this: a politician cannot hold (much) power over people who are happy and don’t require much, if anything, from them. Hence, it is in their interest to keep the people unhappy and create problems instead of solving them.
Excellent article Mish!!!! I posted yours on Stefan Molyneux’s youtube video posted above. I’d love to see you do an interview with him.
SMF that is excellent!
I’m stealing that! Snark!
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Merkel just like Obama, will never have an immigrant in her child’s school
not in her neighborhood, not in her town park or swimming pool.
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So what happens when the immigrant is placed in your child’s school.
They do not know the language – so the entire class teaching is slowed.
That is what happens – that is what the teachers are told to do.
They do not have a parent that can assist with homework so no homework
or little homework is given out- that is what the teachers are told to do
The public school education suffers, the elite private schools then get
better placement in college with less competition.
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..
The way the world works:
– The luckiest, fittest, smartest, with the capability for ruthlessness survive – always have – always will
– Resources are finite and therefore ownership is a zero sum game
– The strong always take from the weak – if they do not then that is a sign of weakness and a competitor will take from the weak and will usurp the formerly strong dropping them into weakling status
– Humans tend to group by clan or on a broader basis by nationality (strength in numbers bonded by culture) and they compete with others for resources
– Competition always exist (I want it all!) but it becomes fiercer when resources are not sufficient to support competing clans or nations
– Tribal societies understand these dynamics because they cannot go to the grocery store for their food – so they are intimately aware of the daily battle to feed themselves and the competition for scare land and resources
– Modern affluent societies do not recognize this dynamic because for them resources are not scarce – they have more than enough.
– One of the main reasons that resources are not scarce in affluent societies is because they won the battle of the fittest (I would argue that luck is the precursor to all other advantages – affluent societies did not get that way because they started out smarter — rather they were lucky – and they parlayed that luck into advances in technology… including better war machines)
– As we have observed throughout history the strong always trample the weak. Always. History has always been a battle to take more in the zero sum game. The goal is to take all if possible (if you end up in the gutter eating grass the response has been – better you than me – because I know you’d do the same to me)
– And history demonstrates that the weak – given the opportunity – would turn the tables on the strong in a heartbeat. If they could they would beat the strong into submission and leave them bleeding in the streets and starving. As we see empire after empire after empire gets overthrown and a new power takes over. Was the US happy to share with Russia and vice versa? What about France and England? Nope. They wanted it all.
– Many of us (including me) in the cushy western world appear not to understand what a villager in Somalia does – that our cushy lives are only possible because our leaders have recognized that the world is not a fair place — Koobaya Syndrome has no place in this world — Koombaya will get you a bullet in the back — or a one way trip to the slum.
– Religious movements have attempted to change the course of human nature — telling us to share and get along — they have failed 100% – as expected. By rights we should be living in communes — Jesus was a communist was he not? We all know that this would never work. Because we want more. We want it all.
– But in spite of our hypocrisy, we still have this mythical belief that mankind is capable of good – that we make mistakes along the way (a few genocides here, a few there… in order to steal the resources of an entire content so we can live the lives we live) — ultimately we believe we are flawed but decent. We are not. Absolutely not.
– But our leaders — who see through this matrix of bullshit — realize that our cushy lives are based on us getting as much of the zero sum game as possible. That if they gave in to this wishy washy Koombaya BS we would all be living like Somalians.
– Of course they cannot tell us what I am explaining here — that we must act ruthlessly because if we don’t someone else will — and that will be the end of our cushy lives. Because we are ‘moral’ — we believe we are decent – that if we could all get along and share and sing Koombaya the world would be wonderful. We do not accept their evil premises.
– So they must lie to us. They must use propaganda to get us onside when they commit their acts of ruthlessness.
– They cannot say: we are going to invade Iraq to ensure their oil is available so as to keep BAU operating (BAU which is our platform for global domination). The masses would rise against that making things difficult for the PTB who are only trying their best to ensure the hypocrites have their cushy lives and 3 buck gas (and of course so that the PTB continue to be able to afford their caviar and champagne) …. Because they know if the hypocrites had to pay more or took at lifestyle hit – they’d be seriously pissed off (and nobody wants to be a Somalian)
– Which raises the question — are we fools for attacking the PTB when they attempt to throw out Putin and put in a stooge who will be willing to screw the Russian people so that we can continue to live large? When we know full well that Putin would do the same to us — and if not him someone more ruthless would come along and we’d be Somalians.
– Should we be protesting and making it more difficult for our leaders to make sure we get to continue to lead our cushy lives? Or should we be following the example of the Spartans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYVIWz99I
– In a nutshell are our interests as part of the western culture not completely in line with those of our leaders – i.e. if they fail we fail – if they succeed we succeed.
– Lee Kuan Yew is famous for saying ‘yes I will eat very well but if I do so will you’ Why bite the hand that whips the weak to make sure you eat well…. If you bite it too hard it cannot whip the weak — making you the weak — meaning you get to feel the whip….
– Nation… clan … individual…. The zero sum game plays out amongst nations first … but as resources become more scarce the battle comes closer to home with clans battling for what remains…. Eventually it is brother against brother ….
– As the PTB run out of outsiders to whip and rob…. They turn on their own…. As we are seeing they have no problem with destroying the middle class because it means more for them… and when the weak rise against them they have no problem at all deploying the violent tactics that they have used against the weak across the world who have attempted to resist them
– Eventually of course they will turn against each other…. Henry Kissinger and Maddy Albright bashing each other over the head with hammers fighting over a can of spam – how precious!
Tribal societies were built on collaboration first and foremost. Very flat social structure. Resources were abundant in the beginning. Dynamics change when resources get scarce.
Yes they were – and one of the main purposed of collaboration was to attack other tribes and take their resources (territory).
Quite obviously one man alone trying to do this would fail – therefore humans banded together and formed tribes.
The strongest tribe won. The spoils were shared with the head men getting the most – but everyone got a taste…
Nothing has changed.
America is the strongest tribe at the moment — the elites benefit the most from America’s success — but everyone in America gets a taste.
In South America, the tribes held a communal gathering once a year. Those who had increased their wealth and belongings were expected to share with poorer families who had not fared so well. So if they had extra blankets, they gave the blankets away so that the poor would not freeze to death at night. In exchange, the rich were praised and thanked for their generosity. In this way, the entire tribe survived–until the Christian missionaries showed up. The missionaries told the rich that God wanted them not to share wealth. Eventually, the tribe disintegrated while the church was unable to support the many poor people it had now created. From “Secrets of the Talking Jaguar” by Martin Prechtel, his account of living with the Mayan in Guatemala.
Throughout history there has generally not been what we would call a ‘middle class’
There were the kings and aristocrats… and the peasants…
I reckon our leaders have done a great job of spreading the wealth amongst the tribe… the life of the average person in a place like America until recently … has resembled more that of a king than a peasant…
Of course the trend is towards peasantry … the middle class is getting wiped out….
And that is because the era of cheap oil is ending.
The prosperity of the past 100 years or so was based on us being able to extract oil easily — and building civilization on the nett energy that was realized.
As conventional (cheap) oil peaked we then began to rely on oil that required far more energy to extract and refine it …. e.g. shale, deep sea, tar sands.
So we had less nett energy available… which translates into a lower standard of living for most people…
For more on this see
For most of the last century, cheap oil powered global economic growth. But in the last decade, the price of oil production has quadrupled, and that shift will permanently shackle the growth potential of the world’s economies.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-23/how-high-oil-prices-will-permanently-cap-economic-growth
THE PERFECT STORM (see p. 58 onwards)
The economy is a surplus energy equation, not a monetary one, and growth in output (and in the global population) since the Industrial Revolution has resulted from the harnessing of ever-greater quantities of energy.
But the critical relationship between energy production and the energy cost of extraction is now deteriorating so rapidly that the economy as we have known it for more than two centuries is beginning to unravel.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/files/2013/01/Perfect-Storm-LR.pdf
– Denizens of Somalia are known as “Somalis”, not Somalians, just as locals in Madrid are known as Madrilenians (or gatos) and people in the Netherlands are called Dutch.
– In expository pieces, one normally writes the first instance of an abbreviation in full (e.g., Business as Usual).
– Religious movements have failed 100% – this seems a little too absolute … surely they have changed the behaviour of a small number of people?
– It is Kumbaya, not Koombaya. Its meaning is similar to Maranatha (מרנא תא), untranslated Aramaic in the New Testament for “Come, Lord”, an utterance similar to a mantra, in the spirit of what in the Psalms is rendered as “Wait for the Lord, O my soul”, or what the Benedictine tradition calls ora et labora (pray and work).
–– Your unfolding of the dynamics of human society adumbrates a number of interesting although disparate themes but is a little facile in their elaboration and somewhat sophomoric in scope. The leitmotif is rather under developed and fails to convincingly unify the considerations assembled.
And I suppose you believe POTUS is the most powerful man in the world 🙂
Kumbaya … that’s the way I prefer to spell it.
Take a look around you — the oppressed — when the tables are turned do the exact same things that were done to them…
The best example of this is the Jews….
Another good one would be the emancipated black slaves in America who were shipped by the Kumbayaists to Liberia —- guess what the first thing they did was? The enslaved the Liberians 🙂
Kumbaya .. Kumbaya….
Another favourite of mine is Imagine – by John Lennon.
Or what Spiro Agnew said: a natering nabob of negativism.
“The leitmotif is rather under developed and fails to convincingly unify the considerations assembled.”
Dang. I was going to say that exact same thing!
What I believe, somewhat along Thomas’ line:
1. Society is by nature oligarchical because we are simply the fifth great ape, the one with car keys.
2. More intelligent but unethical or rationalizing (doing God’s work) apes will often take advantage of the less intelligent or less informed apes. This has been the case throughout human history and will remain the case until:
a. The IQ distribution bell curve is moved significantly to the right combined with
b. The rigorous teaching in schools of the learned skill of critical thinking
2a may eventually occur over an extremely long period of time as evolution progresses.
2b will only happen when people become smart enough to demand it and can overcome the oligarchy’s wish that the masses DO NOT possess that skill.
In extremely wealthy banana republics like the U.S., the resulting skimming by the clever apes is far less noticeable to the proles than in poor banana republics which require repressive governments to prevent revolts. Trump and Sanders are signs that the proles are beginning to notice the skimming in our wealthy banana republic.
“I think people in power have a vested interest to oppose critical thinking. You see, if we don’t improve our understanding of critical thinking and develop it as kind of second nature, we are just suckers ready to be taken by the next charlatan who ambles along… there are lots of ways to gain power and money by deceiving people who are not skilled in critical thinking.” – Carl Sagan in a 1996 radio interview
“If we are not prepared to think for ourselves, and to make the effort to learn how to do this well, we will always be in danger of becoming slaves to the ideas and values of others due to our own ignorance.” – William Hughes, author of Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills
“Despite the favorable opinions of undergraduates and alumni, a closer look at the record…shows that colleges and universities, for all the benefits they bring, accomplish far less for their students than they should… Many cannot reason clearly or perform competently in analyzing complex, non-technical problems, even though faculties rank critical thinking as the primary goal of a college education…Most have never taken a course in quantitative reasoning or acquired the knowledge needed to be a reasonably informed citizen in a democracy.” – Derek Bok, former 20 year president of Harvard University in his book “Our Underachieving Colleges”
To conclude, “Ooh ooh eeh eeh!”
Mere collateral damage, Mish. Nothing new here.
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
Globalism is the ultimate form of collectivism which Ayn Rand defined as any system that places the ‘collective good’ or the ‘public interest’ or the ‘common good’ or the ‘national interest’, etc., above the rights of individuals or ‘smaller’ groups.
The collective good can be defined in many ways – any way, in fact, that its proponents want. It can morally support the military draft, wage and price controls, welfare, national health insurance, communism, Nazism, etc. It could even support the free enterprise system. It could support euthanasia of the elderly (they’re on the way out; why not kill them?).
Just about every President and most national leaders believe in the ‘collective good’ of all. That is why they don’t care about the slaughter of a few million people. It’s for the good of all.
The worst part of it is that many people in or closer than normal to the ‘elite’ are actually oblivious to much of this dynamic. They are not cynical and ruthless but truly believe they are well-meaning idealists doing their best in sometimes challenging circumstances. In this own isolated way, they are trying to be good people, and were you to mingle with them, quite pleasant and even helpful.
Global elite? That is the Clintons.
Like it or not – Trump basically is our only hope. And even though the main news organizations will not carry his speeches – that is what he talks about.
How many peons are voting for Hillary?
In his Wisconsin speech yesterday, Trump said she is just using the peons for votes. Otherwise, she doesn’t care about them. He also condemned the democratic party’s exploitation of the black community for decades.
http://static.politifact.com.s3.amazonaws.com/politifact/photos/Clinton_meme_1.jpg
It may be that Hitlery really thinks that, I know many people who think that. However Hitlery was not dumb enough to come out and say it:
http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-stupid-quote/
The Donald has been doing better with his speeches lately; he even used a teleprompter recently (just like Hitlery and Obummer usually do). Unfortunately the people who need to listen to him will not listen.
I don’t go to snopes anymore because I’ve found things that they have wrongly claimed false. Found out later that George Soros et al supports that organization. Both instances of false claims by snopes were reported as true by truthorfiction.com. In October, the US control of the internet gets passed to ICANN.
“ICANN frequently seems to be driven by powerful interests that are just focused on squeezing as much money as possible out of the domain system, and appears to have little appetite for being what it should be: an independent body protecting the core of the internet”.
Then watch the truth dominos fall. How will you find the truth then? Certainly not from Obama and his US news sources. ICANN in October, just in time to twist the election fraud to match the MSM narrative.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150623/17321931439/icanns-war-whois-privacy.shtml
greg if you looked at the snopes link I provided you would have seen that it mentioned that a similar false quote had been used on The Donald. So that’s pretty evenhanded. However, I agree that sometimes snopes does seem to lean a bit to the left. So what is a better source to check on fact or fiction?
The brain dead peons keep re-electing the very same elite that promises them more free stuff, They have the leadership they want and getting screwed is what they deserve. Actually what they really deserve is death which is coming for them and will hopefully be the final cure for their idiocy… 🙂
“The Brexit has laid bare the political schism of our time. It’s not about the left vs. the right; it’s about the sane vs. the mindlessly angry,” says Traub.
Traub is so absolutely full of himself. The elitists are creating a huge mess of things. There is nothing sane about what they are doing. It is not mindless to be against it. The elitists are destroying western civilization, which is mindless thing for them to do.
“Traub is upset that the masses have finally figured out the global elite don’t give a rat’s ass about them.” Mish, I sure hope you are right. But if Hitlery wins the election, we will know the majority of peons still haven’t figured out what is going on.
Peggy Noonan has always been an excellent writer; glad to see she hasn’t lost her touch.
Morality is, almost intrinsically, unmoored from strictly rational analysis. And so moral certainty, moral conviction, and the inevitable “and so”‘followed by some prescription, is a bright red flag for all of us, rich and poor alike. Nothing terrifies me more than a powerful man who is sure he knows the right thing to do. Humility and uncertainty are the hallmarks of the the saints we celebrate. Thomas Aquinas comes to mind. Or those who toiled in the trenches, in leper colonies, in ghettos, living among the sick and the poor. We are reaching peak bullshit. Peak poseurs. Peak sanctimony. All are harbingers of a date with the Gods of the copy book headings.
The detachment between elites and the rest is purposeful . You have authoritative characters who are there to make sure orders are achieved , but they are not the elites . The true elites are a pseudo-religious bunch who self worship , distributing their grace amongst society at large while remaining ascetically hermetic in penance awaiting to be called on again to display their special considerative flair. They even take the rigging of it all to be some kind of divine act .
Those that rig it all up are just grabbers out for a bit of attention and influence , obviously also detached as they lack any common reassurance that might lead to some kind of honest humility, and prefer instead to rely on creating chosen connections from which to relate from.
We are given intelligence to understand how stupid we are , not to learn to become more stupid .
Everyone posting here qualifies for global elite.
Damn, and there I was thinking we knew best…
So where is my invitation to the Bilderberg Conference?
I was wondering the same thing
Exactly — we are the winners in the zero sum game – we get the SUVs and 5 teevees… the losers live in shacks made of coke cans…
Of course the pie is shrinking on this finite planet — and many who were winners are now joining the losers
Eventually we will all be on the losing side.
Irresponsible procreation causes poverty. Saudis are getting there in a hurry.
This is like a chess game to the rulers who are perched upon the hill in their palaces of gold. We are their pawns. I truly believe that they think they are above humankind. They believe they are the chosen ones who were anointed by a higher metaphysical power to rule the world.
There was once a man on death row in San Quentin in California. His name was Robert Alton Harris. Before they execute a man they ask him for a final statement (I guess for the drama). I’ll never forget Harris’ last words “Whether you’re a king or a street sweeper – everyone dances with the grim reaper”.
Ted Kennedy died a painful death of brain cancer. All his power and money was unable to save him.
The political hacks always invoke God in their messages to the pawns. My guess is that only a handful of the 535 have any true belief in a spiritual God or in an afterlife. Otherwise they wouldn’t behave like they do. Well, they better hope they’re on the right side of that bet. I understand that Hell is a very uncomfortable eternity.
You do not matter.
Democracy applies to fixing potholes and gay rights…. any issue of importance is not to be decided by the sheeple….
Can you imagine if we had referendums on major issues — people are like rats… as Edward Bernays demonstrated… they are mostly incapable of thinking … they are easily manipulated…
The men who make the important decisions are the owners of the Fed. You know the saying – follow the money — well please do — but follow it to the source — whomever controls the money tap for the reserve currency – controls the world.
Be grateful that the owners of the Fed – I like to refer to them as the Elders or High Priests are on your side – if they win — you benefit.
If you disagree – take a look at how Libyans are living … or Iraqis… or Syrians…
Of course the Elders do not stand unopposed …. Putin is challenging them … and he appears to have teamed up with the Chinese (see China is on side with Assad) — the Elders are vulnerable … and they are under attack.
Some people are cheering for Putin to win — but remember this – if he wins — he will not deliver a fairer just world — he will replace the Elders with his own team…
You will be on the losing side. And you will not like that.
W Bush laughed about the rationale for dead and maimed servicemen and women.
You can’t handle the truth – A Few Good Men
I’ve been into some of the worst hell holes on the planet … cambodia just after the Khmer Rouge…. Vietnam during communism… Smokey Mountain Manila … the slums of India … the slums of Ethiopia…. in the middle of the riots in Cairo…. and on and on and on
I have observed what the losers live like — in the zero sum game.
Now don’t get me wrong — I am all for our side doing whatever it takes to remain at the top … because we all benefit from that…. and those poor bastards living in the third world would slit our throats and swap positions in a heart beat….
But I am eternally amused as I watch the pampered winners in western countries bitch and moan because they won’t have a better standard of living than mom and dad.
Booo hoooo…. where’s my violin….
Well guess what — it is going to get a hell of a lot worse.
Because the pie is shrinking – the cheap resources are running out — and the centre of prosperity is going to shrink every single day forward.
So get used to it – today is as good as it gets.
Welcome to third world living! You won’t like it.
“Welcome to third world living! You won’t like it.”
People will get used to anything if the change is gradual enough.
Yep – they will rant and rave and scream — and they might even protest …. what ever happened to the Occupy people???
But eventually – like beaten dogs – they will lie down and just accept the situation.
Mish,
This is exactly my feelings. I responded in similar manner to the recent Memo of Howard Marks (Oaktree) – Political Reality.
This is what I wrote…
———————————————————
Dear Sir,
This is about your new Memo – Political Reality.
“I like to think it was because they knew better than to leave big decisions up to a direct vote of the populace and were worried about “the tyranny of the majority,””
While one part of me agrees with this statement, another part of me asks me a few questions (of many):
1. Why should it not be applied to politicians, who are themselves elected by simple majority as I like to think that since politicians are “supposed to” act in the interests of the people, electing them is a big decision.
2. How should populace respond to “the tyranny of the politicians” (after all since the populace go by words and not action, by themselves they may elect the lousiest of politicians who promises the moon – Your Mondale’s example should suffice — truth is not a virtue).
3. How should the populace respond when the “intelligentsia” act in their own interest (e.g.bailouts, letting go of company with a fine as a way of doing business, no accountability of actions by politicians (Reagan might well have done what Mondale said but without saying it before elections and after getting elected – so basically nothing like say as you do and do as you say), government agents (e.g.Hank Paulson, Geithner) and regulators (Fed – ZIRP for years together without having to be held to account whether it is delivering the desired results or not and the financial repression it entails on prudent people, unnecessarily meddling in the economy to create boom and bust ) and not in collective interest of society.
My point is while this is theoretically correct it can be implemented only in the absence of “tyranny of the intelligentsia” – “intelligentsia” in this context are politicians, government agents and regulators, who are not held accountable.
If this sounds like a tirade against the 1%, please do not consider it as such because I have not been left behind but can see the exploitation that is happening which gives rise to such issues. May be I am idealist but I find that unless “intelligentsia” changes its ways, I cannot see it getting better. When “intelligentsia” works in this manner this is what you get…discontent and disenchantment and giving rise to people like Hitler.
Regards
Lakshminarayanan
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Do you really think the politicians make the really big decisions?
The owners of the Fed – a private company – makes the decisions that are really important ie. those that are key to maintaining their global empire.
You have heard the term follow the money if you want to find the power…
Well…. you’d want to find the source of the money (reserve currency) if you want to track down the real power…
Remember this?
I forgot to add media to the mix of politicians, government agents and regulators…
These four groups are not only destroying the world with a perverted view of how to ensure that it serves them and them only but also have the temerity to blame everyone else but themselves for it. My blood boils.
This is what I’ve been saying. She said ‘elites’. I say ‘Upper 1%-ers’. She said they shove domestic policy down our throats. I said they shove economic policy down our throats and outlined how.
Merkel is carrying out the policies of the European Commission and turning Europe into whatever nutty world they envision. In the EU, they fill the role of the upper 1%-ers and are the ‘elites’.
I still think the richest of the rich are our top level ‘elites’. They use various levels of others to get what they want. Bush & Cheney, for example, were 2nd level types who were ‘good for business’ from the point of view of the ‘elites’. I would accept that some neocons are part of the ‘elites’ and Bush / Cheney were useful to them.
Over the past decade the ‘elites’ have tightened up their act and now control interest rate policy and QE. The FOMC works for them.
I just read the Traub article. I think you misstate his position a little. To me, he was identifying the effect of the elites on the masses more than stating the elites were being persecuted. Yes, many of the masses are stupid, horrible people who nobody in their right mind would want to spend much time around if they have a choice. We have laws and jails for a good reason. Lots of people are so stupid or so disturbed in some way that it’s almost painful to be near them.
They are also exploitable resources for the elites. If you make the proper appeals, you can get them to do whatever you want, or prevent them from stopping you from doing what you want.
In a free market, class struggles will always exist. Some people from the lower classes will rise to the upper classes. Everyone wants all they can get for themselves and few are altruistic unless there’s a benefit to it. The invisible hand has no problem with this. It’s the basis of Creative Destruction. Everyone is constantly seeking to maximize their own advantage. Your needs are secondary to mine. When we prosper as individuals, we prosper as a group.
Today, the classes are stratifying. The middle class appears to be shrinking. This makes the elites stand out more than they have in the recent past. They haven’t changed but their influence has. It’s grown. My belief is that the free money policies of the Federal Reserve and other central banks has financed the growth of their influence. Basically, they saw an opportunity and they took it. The rich got richer and used the money to buy influence. It’s much easier to buy someone to get your point across and do things your way than it is to convince them.
The masses go along because they ‘get free stuff’ from the central bank printing efforts. Governments get to deficit spend and central banks finance large parts of it. The alternative would be less free stuff or higher taxes. They accept the abuse, possibly out of herding instinct but also because the elites control much of the system that would permit any changes. Also, most of the masses are not smart enough to offer coherent objection in any meaningful way.
Seriously, how effective are science deniers or political correctness nutballs or internet trolls in creating organized change? For all intents and purposes, I’m only talking to myself here and using this blog as an outlet to pass some time during the day. It’s a creative writing exercise. Besides that, nobody cares. Nothing will change. The ‘elites’ are in ascendancy.
Do you want analysis paralysis or the real answers to the three questions?
Real answers are:
No.
No.
No.
Mish you may want to revist your post “Is it Conceivable Trump is Deliberately Throwing the Election” in light of this post. Who has the most to gain from running story after story how Trump is imploding? Who keeps shoving contrived polls at the peons and why? Look at the number of people attending Trump rallys which the media fails to cover. You will find them posted on youtube. Do these people care that Trump might allegedly misspeak? As Trump has said the election is rigged.
The answer is not “greed is good”; the answer is stewardship. As long as you believe you will never be called to account for your actions, because of privilege, because of wealth, because of power, then you will live a life of debauchery like dictators and tribal lords. But the truth is all of us will be judged – if not in this life, then after death, and that Judge is incorruptible and eternal. Yes, I’m talking about a Judaeo-Christian faith, because everything else is foolishness and will fall short. People who act like stewards instead of believing they are little gods take care of things and leave behind legacies to their children and other people.
This article sounds like a plug for Occam’s Razor.
Occam’s Razor has been gamed.
It has no business in politics.
It’s the Last Refuge of the Coincidence Theorist.
Incredibly spot on!
Unconstitutional Drone Strikes?
What does this mean? Where? How? Last time I checked the Constitution said the President is Commander-in-Chief
And Trump is running on the mantra that he will ‘defeat ISIS’ but at the same time will reject ‘nation building’. If anything that sounds like an equal amount or more drone strikes under a Trump regime.
Have to agree with you here.
Warfare isn’t redcoats and bluecoats standing with flintlocks in nice lines facing each other anymore. I’d rather send a drone to assassinate a bad guy than send a full army to make a war that may or may not get the bad guy.
Nation building created ISIS. Trump will have to figure out how to fix the problem without falling for neocon BS about the need for more nation building to fix the problems caused by the last administration’s nation building.
I’m OK with drones.
Mish, I share your sentiments but disagree on the controlling dynamic.
Peggy Noonan is an integral part of the scam, as is the Wall Street Urinal. They are pretenders.
Few see the real dynamic at play here…
Excerpt; Mr. Barf passionately described how he would go about restoring opportunity, “Seeing beyond the ever thickening mentacide mist and understanding the true top down orchestrated global societal dynamic presently at play is key to making positive societal change. You must first understand that the ultimate goal of the top level controlling elite is to create a two tier societal structure of ruler and ruled. They are implementing a stated societal goal of ‘full spectrum dominance’ where the ruled are slated for a life of ‘intentionally created perpetual conflict’ and/or eradication at will by the elite. It is in essence a simple control and herd thinning effort. These elite psychopaths do not believe in the sanctity of human life as you and I do. They view other humans the same as any other life form that they can dominate and exploit or kill at will. You must get past their ‘Noble Lies’ and see the reality they have created through their deceptions””
http://saintaugdog.com/sadarticles/vacuumandbarfissue.html
And the masses are not stupid, it is the well educated (indoctrinated) that are being snookered right now — the Green Wall Of Silence Administrative class. Vanilla Greed for Profit is being replaced by Pernicious Greed for Destruction and they don’t have a clue.
http://saintaugdog.com/sadarticles/murderissue.html
Deception is the strongest political force on the planet.
Morality is its mitigation.
Reblogged this on John Barleycorn and commented:
Sad thing is, many are mad for the wrong reasons and at the wrong people.
“Some of the detachment isn’t unconscious. Some of it is sheer and clever self-protection. At least on some level they can take care of their own.””
Sure sounds like it until you think about it for a moment. Why would you locate refuges in rich neighborhoods? Refugees are likely to have little or no money, probably not be able to drive a car…at least at first… not speak English well, but will likely have blue collar job skills. Where would such people go? Such people are essentially immigrants and in US history immigrants have always migrated to poorer communities. Why don’t immigrants or refugees move directly into rich communities?
Well for one thing costs would be much higher. They would have fewer interactions with neighbors, fewer chances to acquire English or jobs. If you actually go to communities with poor people you will discover people there who can get to where they need to go without a car, go to jobs that do not require English or are willing to teach you skills on the job site.
Also the ‘revolt against the elites’ meme sounds really good until you start looking at who supports the revolutionaries. Trump supporters almost never live anywhere near a refugee or even that many immigrants (legal or not). Few would do any better if the US pulled back on free trade, cut off imports from either Mexico or China.
You’re conflating ideas.
The detachment of the elites is based on their ability to stick the masses with the problems they create. They can walk away, say “don’t bother me”, and get away with it.
Refugees are like nuclear waste. They get located where the people who say ‘no’ have the least influence. Syrian refugees aren’t immigrants. They are 10% terrorists in sheep’s clothing. Mexican immigrants were cheap labor that lived in fear of deportation. Syrian refugees are just a guilt trip from regime changers who want the masses to choke down the consequences of their actions while they float above it all.
Trump supporters would never live near Syrian refugees. Why would any sane person want to be near them?
10% terrorists? why are terrorist attacks in the single digits per year and more often than not done by a Muslim who had grown up in europe?
So many are mad at the wrong people for the wrong reasons. They need to turn off their TV and start reading sites like this one. Mish spells it out quite well here regarding the globalist bankers and their criminal misdeeds.
I live in Harrisonburg VA, which is listed as one of those “poor” cities outside Washington DC and rich NOVA. We welcome the refugees, partly because of our Christianity, and partly because it boosts our economy. Visit a refugee resettlement city and compare what you see to a non-refugee resettlement city. An economy is more than just take-home pay. We have a diverse and rapidly growing economy, not one focused on bribery of those in power, which you find near centers of government. In Harrisonburg you find a diversity of restaurants and music that you normally find in a city 10 times its size. Yet, you can walk across town in an hour. We have 2 universities in town, and more nearby. On the south end of town this week is the Rockingham County Fair, one of the biggest ag fairs east of the Mississippi. In Harrisonburg you see Isaiah 60 for real.
Absolutely right Mish. The world is less and less willing to factor active compassion into the economic calculus which just happens to be a perfect definition of the concept and experience of Grace which is Love IN ACTION. Try doing that with economic and monetary theory will ya!
Last day of WW I, Nov. 11, 1918, the armistice is signed early in the morning (around 6 AM), to take effect at 1100 hrs that day. The armies are TOLD to keep fighting until then. FOR WHAT?!? Another 2300+ sons were KILLED that day and their families destroyed emotionally.
WWII, in the Pacific, the US Navy can isolate Japan through their ‘Island Hopping’ campaign, but McArthur pushes the administration to get behind a murderous re-taking of the Philippines costing TENS OF THOUSANDS of American sons lives, hundreds of thousands of Japanese sons lives, and the mass murder (ostensibly by bat shit savage Japanese troops) of MANY Phillipinos. Isolating and then bombing Japan could have destroyed their empire without this wholesale slaughter on three sides, but did the USA do this? Nope. the blood flowed, Manila (a gem in the Pacific) was almost completely destroyed), etc…
The disregard for the sanctity of human life is chilling. Remember McNamara,s ‘body count’ during Viet Nam? Chinese wave attacks? Socialism and Communism causing the intentional deaths of over 100 million of their own peoples because they were branded ‘enemies of the State’? Attrition, attrition, attrition.
The paeans are there for blood sport for the masters. May they burn…
Actually, the domino theory is alive and well and currently being used by migrating Muslims to topple those wobbly European welfare state dominoes, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome; that’s the syndrome where the victims blame themselves for being victimized and invaded and then identify with their new Muslim masters and hostage takers. Even the Left and Chomsky have moved on from celebrating those people’s wars of liberation by Pol Pot and Uncle Ho and the usual assortment of French trained Marxists that produced the Cambodian holocaust to touting the new Islamic enlightenment and their no go zones coming to Europe and America. New reality, same old tired narrative. And once the Iranian “revolution” was consolidated the Iranian Left and their narrative was liquidated with extreme prejudice by the Mullahs in charge; of course, not living in the new Islamic Republic, Chomsky and company, typical of academic Marxists, were missing in action while safely collecting their state pensions in America. Those so called war mongering republicans do not have a monopoly on the chicken hawk syndrome regularly practiced by the Left and social democrats.
Why is Europe allowing 100’s of thousand of Muslims in – some of whom are behaving quite badly?
Check out Operation Gladio — create fear — then use it.
In this case the fear of terror will be used to introduce a police state — which will be welcomed — but the real purpose here is to prepare for the chaos of economic collapse – without actually causing the collapse by marching troops onto the streets
Likewise in the US – see Operation Northwoods. Why are cops allowed to shoot unarmed blacks — of course this is deliberate provocation — as the blacks increasingly respond there is chaos — the government will march in the police state to protect Americans from the chaos.
Again – all related to the economic collapse that is imminent
The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice.
It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month.
Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. In America.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-for-homeland-security-its-time-for-a-national-conversation/#2891606a5e01
Crazy times are coming….
The global economy does not like a break-even on oil of over $100… this is what you get …. central banking policies that defy the rules of the game … and martial law at some point
The math no longer works.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/ssabullets.asp
The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice. It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month. Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. In America.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-for-homeland-security-its-time-for-a-national-conversation/
Day after day … year after year… the pundits tell me that the central bankers are stupid/insane/corrupt/evil and so on….
Consider this headline:
Bill Gross Warns “Central Bankers Are Destroying The Engine Of The Real Economy”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-18/bill-gross-warns-central-banker…
If the central banks destroy the engine — they destroy themselves.
Bill Gross gets it. A 10 year old could be made to understand the implications of central bank policy.
Let’s assume the central bankers understand that they are committing suicide.
Now what do they fear that has driven them to blow up the system that is the foundation of their power?
THE PERFECT STORM (see p. 58 onwards)
The economy is a surplus energy equation, not a monetary one, and growth in output (and in the global population) since the Industrial Revolution has resulted from the harnessing of ever-greater quantities of energy. But the critical relationship between energy production and the energy cost of extraction is now deteriorating so rapidly that the economy as we have known it for more than two centuries is beginning to unravel.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/files/2013/01/Perfect-Storm-LR.pdf